Photography (BFA)

Mara Kritsula-Green

Red Building Standing

A satellite village about 20km north of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Tangjialing is inhabited by industrious post-graduate intellectuals and migrant workers, many of whom migrated from the countryside in search of a more prosperous life. Due to the competitive nature of the Beijing job market, many have been forced to accept low-paying jobs unrelated to their education, which has created an “intellectual slum” where cost of living is low but sanitation is poor and commutes are long and arduous. But Tangjialing is in a period of transition—it is slated for demolition to make way for China’s ever expanding Silicon Valley. The gradual but inevitable encroachment of big business has created a striking visual juxtaposition between the everyday lives of the residents and the village’s impending demolition. Through a series of images of a Tangjialing in transition, Kritsula-Green explores the physical effects of China’s rapid urban transformation, and bears witness to a village that will soon be just a memory.